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Esta obra sonora está basada en la visita de cinco días que hice a la costa del atlántico de Colombia con el apoyo de la beca IBERMUSICAS y la Fundación Círculo Abierto, para participar en el proyecto “Sonidos de la Ribera”. Fue un viaje para conocer las raíces de la música afro colombiana, así como algunas de sus vertientes contemporáneas como La Champeta. El centro de la vista fueron tres pueblos en donde me pude empapar de los verdaderos orígenes de la música negra de esta región: Palenque De San Basilio, Repelón, y Santa Lucía, en donde pude grabar distintos ejemplos. Allí, algunos de los instrumentistas nos hicieron del favor de tocar solos de tambor con distintos ritmos de la región. 
La base de mi obra es la dilatación temporal de esos distintos ritmos de tambor, a partir de granulaciones temporales. Los sonidos resultantes nos hacen sentir una especie de pulsación vital, que para mi es la respiración de estas tierras negras agrestes, de sus antepasados esclavos y de la cultura negra presente, que intenta a toda costa salvar lo poco que les queda con respecto a su identidad, sus toques de tambor y sus bailes.
Sobre estas pulsaciones granulares que incluyen las resonancias extendidas de estas magníficas percusiones (incluida la de una marímbula), edité una serie de paisajes sonoros grabados en el viaje, comenzando por mi primera noche en un departamento de Cartagena, luego por una grabación en las pequeñas calles del centro histórico de esta bella ciudad, en donde podemos escuchar a un merolico lanzando su canto al aire, en el lago de Repelón, con los pescadores y sus hijos, que curiosamente hablaban de su música y de sus bailes, y de cómo alguno de ellos ya había aprendido a bailar, etc. Para mi, ellos representan un mejor futuro para esta cultura que todavía sufre y parece estar relegada del status quo Colombiano. 
La obra termina con la inclusión de uno de los cantos regionales de Santa Lucía que coreografiaron para nosotros, en donde se canta repetitivamente la frase: la rama del tamarindo. Este es un árbol endémico del África tropical que imagino se ha vuelto importante en esta región de Colombia. 
La obra, por su longitud, esta pensada para ser escuchada de manera no lineal, a modo de instalación sonora, o en la casa, mientras escribimos, pensamos, etc. Es una especie de mantra que adquiere distintas configuraciones macro rítmicas, desde una pulsación lenta y simple, hasta varias super puestas y que crean una estructura más compleja. Todas ellas interactúando de manera constante con los paisajes sonoros endémicos.
English
This sound work was based in a five day visit to the Colombian Atlantic Coast with the support of the IBERMUSICAS grant and the Circular Abierto Foundation in Barranquilla, in order to participate in the Project “Sounds of the Ribera”. It was a trip designed to get to know the roots of Afro Colombian Music, as well as some of its contemporary popular music branches as the Champeta. The center of the visit was three towns where I could get involved with the true origins of the black music of this region: Palenque De San Basilio, Repelón, and Santa Lucía, where I could record different examples. There, some of the instrumentalists played us solo drum music with the different rhythms of the region.
The base of my work was the temporal extension of these drums rhythms, by the way of time granulations. The resulting sounds are a kind of vital pulsation, which for me, represents the breathing of theses dried lands, of the salve ancestors and the new black present culture, that is trying to save the little that is left with respect to their identity, their drum playing and their dances.
Over these granular pulsations, with their magnificent resonances, I added a series of sound scapes recorded on the trip, starting from my first night in an apartment in the city of Cartagena (traffic), and then in the Little streets of the historic center (a street vendor, a chariot, etc), and then in the small towns I visited, where we can hear the fisher men and their kids, where one of them tells his friend how he learned to dance. For me, these children represent a better future for this culture that still suffers and seems to be relegated from the status quo in this south American country.
The work ends with the inclusion of one of the regional chants form Santa Lucia that was choreographed for us, where they sing repeatedly the phrase, The Tamarind Branch, and endemic tree from tropical Africa that has become important in this region of Colombia.

La Rama Del Tamarindo

Mohika

From Morphogenèse (CD, empreintes DIGITALes). Originally composed for eight channels.

Lucent Voids (Excerpt)

Sounds Seen (and some not quite...) is part of a series of “sonic mobiles”. Its material forms an environment that allows glimpses of an imagined larger scale structure for virtual percussion ensemble. Serial procedures derived from time-point techniques were used to create durational sets that invoked particular spatial and temporal trajectories. Real-world sounds were recorded, aligned and juxtaposed against their “found” and processed counterparts. Elements pass by each other sometimes in opposition, sometimes colliding, but always in some state of motion and collusion. The piece received its premier performance in November 2002 on the Cycle de Concerts de Musique par Ordinateur in Paris, France. A first round winner in the 2003 New York ISCM competition, Sounds Seen was also selected as an official US Submission to the 2004 World New Music Days in Switzerland.

Sounds Seen (and some not quite...)

Windhorse (2012)for flute and live processing (SuperCollider)
The Windhorse is a central figure in Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism. The Windhorse appears in the center of a common type of prayer flag, representing the cardinal directions, well-being, good fortune, and the speed and strength with which prayers are carried to the heavens. The Windhorse is often depicted bearing the Three Jewels in which those seeking enlightenment take refuge: the enlightened being (Buddha), the teachings (Dharma), and the community of those seeking enlightenment (Sangha). This meditative work is representative of the more relaxed character of my recent works. It was written in the spirit of "joyous effort", the Buddhist philosophy that positive efforts are worthwhile for ourselves and others, and that we should not be fearful or discouraged in our work. The electronic sounds are generated in realtime by processing the input signal from the flute with SuperCollider.


Windhorse

Intermezzo

Mosaic of solo piano and stormy background in 60-tone equal temperament, with quiet noises.

Microtonal Landscape (60 - Tone Octave)

One of four pieces with this name, each featuring very active harp lines on a bed of leisurely moving sustained sounds. The pieces revolve around a primary mode, in this case the Indian mode Todi. Others may come into play, though, including Messaien symmetric modes. 

Outskirts Of Memory - Todi

Vivi

Read the review/extensive interview on Disquiet:
http://disquiet.com/2013/05/01/peter-kirn-music-for-dance-2013/

Download a lossless copy (Creative Commons licensed, pay what you like)
http://pkirn.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-dance

Music for Dance
P. KIRN

MUSIC FOR DANCE is a compilation of music I produced for choreographers, 2002-2011. I've recomposed these materials into a continuous musical soundscape. It's a new narrative that's independent of the original works, but inspired by the connection to these collaborators. 

I realize looking back at this work that it represents a chapter in my life, living in Manhattan and working in computer sounds in live, improvisatory contexts, challenged and transformed by the experience of space and time found in the modern dance scene there. Now, looking back on those nine years in New York City takes on a special meaning.

I want in particular to recognize the long-term collaborative relationships I had with two choreographers and fellow Sarah Lawrence College alumni, Kathy Westwater and Christopher Williams. The sound materials here come largely from work for Kathy Westwater, especially her Dark Matter series, along with works completed with Christopher Williams, Elise Knudson, and Pauliina Ailennoinen. The sounds are synthesized or heavily digitally processed, with only momentary incursions of sampled and found sound, including a brief interludes of my own vocals and processed flute/vocal sounds recorded with the talented Margaret Lancaster.

Venues included Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd Street Y, Boston Cyberarts Festival, Joyce SoHo, and others. Thanks to John Yannelli, Sarah Rudner, Dan Hurlin, and Emily Devine of the Sarah Lawrence Dance program.

In memory of Viola Farber, who helped launch me on this journey.

Completed: 2011
Peter Kirn, Berlin 2013

Music for Kathy Westwater, Christopher Williams, and Elise Knudson
Photos: Peter Kirn
Design: Anette K. Hansen

Music for Dance

Jim Alexander is a composer, guitarist, and cellist. He writes acoustic and electronic music for dance, film, and live performance. His electronic music is often concerned with microtonality – in this case, scales finer than 12 tones per octave – as well as collage and timbral transformation. He mixes western ideas with non-western. He received an MA in composition from Mills College and plays processed cello in the electro-acoustic ensemble Cone of Confusion.